NEVER book shore excurisions thru NCL

[jvezlife]

Not only do they cost alot more money they lie about what you get. Example: Just got back from NCL Gem 12/13/08 booked airboat adventure in port canaveral discription said 2 1/4 hour trip, now I understand that includes transportation but come on I was on the airboat for less then 30 mins. Also booked jeep tour in grand Bahamas they said 5 hrs. they dont tell you that all you do is drive on a highway and see only tree farms, come on NCL at least let us drive near the coast so we can see the water, We did go "off road" if you call driving thru the tree farm on a gravel road off road.

Trust me the discriptions are all LIES

Please do yourself a favor, if your intrested in excursions ,research online and book direct. The fun part of the trip is only minutes and transportion takes up all the rest

PS...very friendly people at the excursion desk when booking.

PSS... Very nasty people at the excursion desk when you tell them ,they mislead you

[Toyz711]

i won't say that you didn't have a bad time...

BUT they aren't all like that, in belize...the 2nd best tour i have ever been on was on a NCL tour, to lamanai mayan ruins. great tour guide, great information..wonderful day.

yes, the port-of-call boards, on cruise critics, are wonderful for doing port/excursion research. great 1st hand information about each cruiseline excursions and how to find the private vendors.

sorry you weren't able to enjoy yours, i have heard others say...on both private and cruiseship, jeep tours..that they weren't what was expected.

i know in alaska, the 4 wheel tours don't go 4 wheeling..even if booked with private vendor.(long lasting damage to the area) also, dog sledding excurisons...you can't drive the sled!

[ketzelacruising]

I once booked a wonderful excursion on RCCL. We had a blast- we even bought the DVd. Well, they delivered the DVD of the excursion to the ship and probably didn't think that maybe we had a suite with a DVD player. So we put in the DVD -OOPPS- it wasn't my family on it!

So my wife went to see the excursion guy, as we were overnight in port. He told her to go to Hell- then my wife responded appropriately and got called to the Chief Pursors office the next day for telling the guy to go to Hell back.. she actually got called to the office,a s she says!! rtthey yelled at her asand she mentioned the video cameras. While there is no sound, you could clearly see this doink cursing at her .she made the staff look at the video of the conversation ( it was at front desk) and they had to admit that the creepy excursion director swore first. DW wasn't proud, but made them refund our money. They were not happy but did so ( for the DVD- not the cruise!) but even looked at the entire DVD to make sure we weren't lying!

 

We have had okay luck with NCL- butI now call before I book and find out how long the ride is, etc. We have saved major $$ doing the same excursions privately-but still usually use NCL if it is an all day affair, as DW doesn't wnat to miss the boat- I mean ship1

Sorry they were so nasty to you-we have not had to complain to NCL- but the next cruise is in 13 days...

 

Merry Christmas

Mike

[terrymtex01]

Not only do they cost alot more money they lie about what you get. Example: Just got back from NCL Gem 12/13/08 booked airboat adventure in port canaveral discription said 2 1/4 hour trip, now I understand that includes transportation but come on I was on the airboat for less then 30 mins. Also booked jeep tour in grand Bahamas they said 5 hrs. they dont tell you that all you do is drive on a highway and see only tree farms, come on NCL at least let us drive near the coast so we can see the water, We did go "off road" if you call driving thru the tree farm on a gravel road off road.

Trust me the discriptions are all LIES

Please do yourself a favor, if your intrested in excursions ,research online and book direct. The fun part of the trip is only minutes and transportion takes up all the rest

PS...very friendly people at the excursion desk when booking.

PSS... Very nasty people at the excursion desk when you tell them ,they mislead you

 

I have to agree with Toyz. We have been on four NCL cruises, all of them at least 7 days long and we have taken shore excursions through NCL. With the exception of one, we havev found them wonderful and very much what they advertise. The one we didn't care for had to do with an encounter we had with a worker at the beach front hotel where the excursion took place and was in no way a reflection on NCL.

 

Yes NCL excursions are more expensive than booking your own or going with private tour companies, but we have always found them to be very worthwhile. Sorry you had such a bad time on your excursions, but I have to say we have always been very pleased with ours.

[terrymtex01]

I once booked a wonderful excursion on RCCL. We had a blast- we even bought the DVd. Well, they delivered the DVD of the excursion to the ship and probably didn't think that maybe we had a suite with a DVD player. So we put in the DVD -OOPPS- it wasn't my family on it!

So my wife went to see the excursion guy, as we were overnight in port. He told her to go to Hell- then my wife responded appropriately and got called to the Chief Pursors office the next day for telling the guy to go to Hell back.. she actually got called to the office,a s she says!! rtthey yelled at her asand she mentioned the video cameras. While there is no sound, you could clearly see this doink cursing at her .she made the staff look at the video of the conversation ( it was at front desk) and they had to admit that the creepy excursion director swore first. DW wasn't proud, but made them refund our money. They were not happy but did so ( for the DVD- not the cruise!) but even looked at the entire DVD to make sure we weren't lying!

 

We have had okay luck with NCL- butI now call before I book and find out how long the ride is, etc. We have saved major $$ doing the same excursions privately-but still usually use NCL if it is an all day affair, as DW doesn't wnat to miss the boat- I mean ship1

Sorry they were so nasty to you-we have not had to complain to NCL- but the next cruise is in 13 days...

 

Merry Christmas

Mike

 

Mike that is HORRIBLE that your wife went through that but I can tell you this.. LOL.. I know she and I would get alone wonderfully. She is my kind of person.. not just from telling him off right back to him, but for having them look at the security cams. That is my kind of woman right there.. LOL. I would have done the very same thing and I CAN ASSURE YOU, you have NO IDEA the hell I would have caused being called into anyone's office, unless it was to apologize for what I had been put through.

[mrose1120]

Not only do they cost alot more money they lie about what you get. Example: Just got back from NCL Gem 12/13/08 booked airboat adventure in port canaveral discription said 2 1/4 hour trip, now I understand that includes transportation but come on I was on the airboat for less then 30 mins. Also booked jeep tour in grand Bahamas they said 5 hrs. they dont tell you that all you do is drive on a highway and see only tree farms, come on NCL at least let us drive near the coast so we can see the water, We did go "off road" if you call driving thru the tree farm on a gravel road off road.

Trust me the discriptions are all LIES

Please do yourself a favor, if your intrested in excursions ,research online and book direct. The fun part of the trip is only minutes and transportion takes up all the rest

PS...very friendly people at the excursion desk when booking.

PSS... Very nasty people at the excursion desk when you tell them ,they mislead you

 

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, and i've only been on one cruise (Carnival) a couple years back, with my first NCL a couple weeks away, but don't you feel silly making such a sweeping statement? NEVER book them?

From your post, I am assuming you had ONE NCL trip to base this on. Again, i'm sorry that you had a bad experience, but my limited experience since this summer on this message board, I must say I trust someone who just states their problem without making it sound like one cruise line or the next is the worst ever at something.

 

Just some food for thought... happy holidays everyone

[InTheCruisingYearsOfLife]

I once booked a wonderful excursion on RCCL. We had a blast- we even bought the DVd. Well, they delivered the DVD ... -OOPPS- it wasn't my family on it!

So my wife went to see the excursion guy, .... He told her to go to Hell- then my wife responded appropriately and got called to the Chief Pursors office the next day.... they yelled at her and she mentioned the video cameras. While there is no sound, you could clearly see this doink cursing at her. they had to admit that the creepy excursion director swore first. DW wasn't proud, but made them refund our money.

 

Sheesh. At least they could have given you a keepsake DVD of DW's altercation with the desk clerk!

[johnql]

I usually book my excursions through NCL and have rarely had a complaint. Sorry the OP doesn't feel the same way.

 

BTW, I almost never follow the advice of someone who warns people to never do something. Life isn't black and white and the same applies to NCL's excursions.

[newmexicoNita]

Not only do they cost alot more money they lie about what you get. Example: Just got back from NCL Gem 12/13/08 booked airboat adventure in port canaveral discription said 2 1/4 hour trip, now I understand that includes transportation but come on I was on the airboat for less then 30 mins. Also booked jeep tour in grand Bahamas they said 5 hrs. they dont tell you that all you do is drive on a highway and see only tree farms, come on NCL at least let us drive near the coast so we can see the water, We did go "off road" if you call driving thru the tree farm on a gravel road off road.

Trust me the discriptions are all LIES

Please do yourself a favor, if your intrested in excursions ,research online and book direct. The fun part of the trip is only minutes and transportion takes up all the rest

PS...very friendly people at the excursion desk when booking.

PSS... Very nasty people at the excursion desk when you tell them ,they mislead you

We usually book our own tours, but sometimes book via the cruise line: not just NCL but all are pricier than booking privately and probably not a personable. That being said, I think you come across a little strong here. NEver is a pretty final word...If the tour was supposed to be 5 hours and was, you got what you were told you would get. Advertising is one thing, to say everything was a lie is quite another.

 

Nita

[KWIN]

jvezlife

i have that same excursion booked next week (port canaveral airboat adventure) Told my friends that the ride would only be about 30 minutes. But was it a good 30 minutes. Been on cruise excursions before and the travel time is always more than the excursion itself! I don't mind as long the excursion itself is good!

[negc]

I sense more than a bit of exaggeration in the OP's complaint and, as others have already said, it is usually best to disregard comments that urge people to "never" or "always" do something. Usually the truth is somewhere in the middle and doesn't lend itself to absolute statements. In general, excursions booked through any cruiseline, will likely cost more than those booked directly with a tour operator. The cruiseline is acting as the middle man in this operation and it is often more convenient to purchase your excursions in this manner. For that convenience the cruiseline marks up the price of the excursion and the cruiseline also has usually vetted the company and is vouching for their general worthiness and reliability.

Descriptions of shore excursions are sometimes a copywriters delight and it is essential to read them carefully just as you would read real estate ads and other documents which are seeking to sell you a product. ("Sell the sizzle, not the steak" is an old advertising maxim) With experience you learn to look for code words in a description (for example saying that on the tour you will "see" a particular attraction may mean only that you will drive by it and not stop and "visit" it. The total time of an excursion can sometimes include a lengthy bus ride to and from the site (ex. a tour of Paris from Le Havre will entail a bus ride of more than two hours each way, and "seeing" the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral are not the same as actually going to the top of the Tower or inside the Cathedral).

I think most of us have been on shore excursions that didn't deliver the experience we expected, but I wouldn't totally condemn all of a cruiseline's excursions based on a single or a few bad experiences, and I would remind you that if you book a tour directly with a tour operator, you might end up just as dissatisfied and perhaps with less recourse than if you had booked it with the cruise line.:)

[DonfromNC]

We're going on our 6th NCL cruise in about 3 weeks and, as always we have booked NCL excursions at each stop. I know we can get a better price elsewhere, but there's comfort in using NCL's subcontractors rather than an unknown (to us) concern. PLUS we only have to give our credit card number to NCL.

 

We have done our homework and expect a long bus ride on some, e.g. we're going to Punta Tombo from Puerto Madryn to see (hopefully) thousands of penguins. We know Punta Tombo is 100 miles from the port over gravel roads and we expect to spend 1 hour at the destination out of a 7-1/2 hour trip. That is clear from NCL's description. With a dockside vendor it's still 100 miles.

 

The only really horrible excursion we've had was on RCCL. That time nearly everyone on the trip went directly to the desk to complain when we returned, and RCCL wound up giving us all a full refund. Good luck getting that from someone you booked over the internet.

 

Don

[more cruises]

This post really gave me something to consider. If I book an independent excursion I read the vendors website, all the reviews here and everything else I can. Often I'll call the vendor and certainly email. I am very well informed.

 

Now, how much information does the cruiseline provide us about their excursions? One flowery paragraph. We have no idea who the vendor is and only very basic information about the excursion itself - and usually an inflated rate. Maybe the OP would not have been disappointed if the cruiseline had been more upfront about the excursion

[terrymtex01]

This post really gave me something to consider. If I book an independent excursion I read the vendors website, all the reviews here and everything else I can. Often I'll call the vendor and certainly email. I am very well informed.

 

Now, how much information does the cruiseline provide us about their excursions? One flowery paragraph. We have no idea who the vendor is and only very basic information about the excursion itself - and usually an inflated rate. Maybe the OP would not have been disappointed if the cruiseline had been more upfront about the excursion

 

But there again, your description of how they describe their excursions is just your opinion of the descriptions they provide. Several of us have posted that we find them to be exactly as they have been described. It might come down to being a simple matter of opinion, just as it is if the food on NCL is good or not.

[Toyz711]

that's exactly why the port-of-calls boards is so important.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

you can get detail information on either the private vendors or the ship's tours. yes, you can get different opinions for the same excursions.

but better then then counting on a brief description written by someone who has never been out of the office?

i really appreciated the advice i got about the lamanai tour..so very glad i went with the NCL tour and didn't have to worry about missing the last tender. while alaska, i learned how easy it is to work with local vendors and not use the ship's tours.

the only 4 wheeling or jeep tour, i have heard about (recently) that went off road is in cozumel. otherwise, they have gotten very tame due to law suits and avoiding injuries.

[Grandpaul]

I wouldn't want to be on a private tour and miss the ship. I've done that Everglades tour a few times and really enjoy it. Plus it leaves you off at the airport. Not a bad way to spend the morning you end your cruise.

[AuntieBarb]

It's not new news that private excursions are usually cheaper.

 

We've booked most of our excursions through NCL and we're well aware that it's possible to book a less expensive excursion privately. It all depends on the circumstances, distances traveled, duration, etc., before we'll book a private excursion.

 

The descriptions of the excursions are provided by the vendor. The time shown is from the point the vendor picks you up until they return you to the ship or dropoff location.

 

We've been on one NCL sponsored excursion that didn't meet up to its description. NCL was advised of the misrepresentation; not just by us but numerous pax on the excursion. Not long after, the excursion description was updated and more representative of the actual excursion.

 

NCL is not out to rip you off. Their aim is to give you options with reputable vendors. There is also clerical work involved, having a 3rd party involved for your bookings. So naturally there's overhead to cover too.

 

Going to a nearby beach? There's rarely good reason to book through the ship, as a taxi ride usually does the trick. Traveling to the far side of a country, away from port on a long excursion ** or ** traveling over less traveled roads; some barely passable at that? You might consider taking the ship's excursion instead, because there's a lot to be said about the security of knowing NCL will wait for your return. Had we gone to Xunantunich privately in Belize, we may have been booking airfare to catch up with the ship! But we didn't and NCL waited for us, returning over an hour beyond the time the ship was due to sail.

[rudeman]

We were recently on the Jade for 12 days, stopping in 8 ports (one was canceled) and we did 8 NCL excursions. Didn't have a problem with any. In fact, on all our cruises, if we've ever done a tour it's been with the line - except once in Bermuda where we were docked overnight and not concerned with being "late". Obviously, if we're just doing a beach thing or shopping, we'll take taxis or whatever.

 

I can't think of a case where we did not think the excursion was worth the investment. They are usually very professionally run with lots of information.

 

We just like the peace of mind that going with the cruise line's excursion gives us. It's worth the extra bucks to us.

 

Just as an aside - this past cruise, in Gibraltar, two ship's tours were late (like, didn't arrive until 15 minutes after our SAIL time, not our boarding time) and the ship waited for them. And the interesting thing is the next port, Mallorca, was canceled the next day due to bad weather. So, imagine missing the ship (no, I can't:eek:), making arrangements to get to Mallorca and then finding out the ship isn't even coming? No thanks - I'm not that adventurous!! I'll stick with the cruise line.

[kcwingwalker]

The OP is upset and did not enjoy his excursions. Excursions are a lot like serving dinner to a large group.....you just cannot please everyone. But the OP would be a lot more upset if he found his ship had sailed without him.

 

Some NCL excursions I've enjoyed, others not so much. However, I will continue to book with NCL.

 

[*Wink*]

sheesh. At least they could have given you a keepsake dvd of dw's altercation with the desk clerk!

lol!!!!

[Grandpaul]

Another thing to think about with private tours is if you cancel a lot of them don't refund your money.

[smeyer418]

Not only do they cost alot more money they lie about what you get. Example: Just got back from NCL Gem 12/13/08 booked airboat adventure in port canaveral discription said 2 1/4 hour trip, now I understand that includes transportation but come on I was on the airboat for less then 30 mins. Also booked jeep tour in grand Bahamas they said 5 hrs. they dont tell you that all you do is drive on a highway and see only tree farms, come on NCL at least let us drive near the coast so we can see the water, We did go "off road" if you call driving thru the tree farm on a gravel road off road.

Trust me the discriptions are all LIES

Please do yourself a favor, if your intrested in excursions ,research online and book direct. The fun part of the trip is only minutes and transportion takes up all the rest

PS...very friendly people at the excursion desk when booking.

PSS... Very nasty people at the excursion desk when you tell them ,they mislead you

 

 

You have been on cc since 2002 and only have 18 posts? where have you been? All cruise line tours show total number of hours. There is of course no excuse for the excursion desk people to be nasty and I haven't seen them be however sometimes they do respond in kind. I've have taken the airboat ride in Port Canaveral on my own(at the Lone Cabbage Fish camp http://www.twisterairboatrides.com/) and all the rides are relatively short includes alligator tasting-something that only they give the cruise lines)

 

We still had to get there(self drive). there is something to be said for the cruise lines tours in mindlessness and security. Other than that its mostly cheaper and more fun on your own away from the hordes of the cruise line...

[newmexicoNita]

You have been on cc since 2002 and only have 18 posts? where have you been? All cruise line tours show total number of hours. There is of course no excuse for the excursion desk people to be nasty and I haven't seen them be however sometimes they do respond in kind. I've have taken the airboat ride in Port Canaveral on my own(at the Lone Cabbage Fish camp http://www.twisterairboatrides.com/) and all the rides are relatively short includes alligator tasting-something that only they give the cruise lines)

 

We still had to get there(self drive). there is something to be said for the cruise lines tours in mindlessness and security. Other than that its mostly cheaper and more fun on your own away from the hordes of the cruise line...

 

Good points, we all know the excursion desks as well as reception etc can be helpful or not so, but I am willing to bet, attitude plays a big part. OP mentioned they were nice when booking but not when told "they misled" the tourest. I wonder how he said this...??? We do love to book our own tours but only if they are short enough that we know time will not be a problem and we never give a credit card until we arrive at the port. As someone mentioned, often if you need to cancel for any reason including weather, the private companies will not refund your money. We also realize a good part of the total hours can be taken up in transportation. When we see a reason to book via the cruise line we do, knowing it will not be a private, nor as cheap as doing it on our own..

 

Nita

[Stillfloatin']

There's always pros and cons for booking either way, but here's my 2 cents: We've always booked private tours, and for the most part, they were very personable, flexible, reasonably priced, and often quite extraordinary because when you're on a private tour, the tour can be tailored to your interests as you go. However, due to safety concerns, we booked 2 NCL tours on our recent South American cruise and I must say, they were quite disappointing. Both tours were expensive, crowded, and impersonal. Somehow, when you're boarding one of six large buses all headed to the exact same places, it feels more like Disneyland than actually exploring the culture of a country. It was a great reminder to me of why we choose private tours.

 

As to the peace of mind with knowing NCL will wait, frankly, after 12 cruises, the only late tours I've known of were the ship excursions (probably because there are so many people on them and that takes more time). Private tours know their reputations and future business depend on getting you back in plenty of time and we've never even been close to missing a ship. That's just my opinion of course, and personally, I'm happy that we all can choose to go on the tour that best suits us. :)

 

As for refunds, all of our private tours would refund if the ship was unable to dock or anchor for any reason. Also, most require only a small deposit (a few require 50% and many don't require any) so even if you're ill or don't like the weather or whatever, you can cancel and not be out too much money.